Re: about electronics

From	Bill Sloman <bill.sloman@ieee.org>
Newsgroups	sci.electronics.design
Subject	Re: about electronics
Date	2026-04-26 02:28 +1000
Organization	A noiseless patient Spider
Message-ID	<10siq3o$ueq9$2@dont-email.me> (permalink)
References	(2 earlier) <if6nuk5695n32ucf5uor2eecb9bc0g8o98@4ax.com> <10sg9g0$84i3$2@dont-email.me> <aqanukpih96h1jmkvv78ldnrnfmh2j1knn@4ax.com> <10shgsc$j3f6$1@dont-email.me> <galpukdli53mjiq4f2csdvdiqnua5chctm@4ax.com>

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On 26/04/2026 1:03 am, john larkin wrote:
> On Sat, 25 Apr 2026 14:44:45 +1000, Bill Sloman <bill.sloman@ieee.org>
> wrote:
> 
>> On 25/04/2026 3:46 am, john larkin wrote:
>>> On Sat, 25 Apr 2026 03:32:36 +1000, Bill Sloman <bill.sloman@ieee.org>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>>> On 25/04/2026 2:39 am, john larkin wrote:
>>>>> On Sat, 25 Apr 2026 02:14:53 +1000, Bill Sloman <bill.sloman@ieee.org>
>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>> On 25/04/2026 1:55 am, john larkin wrote:
>>>>>>> I went to a couple of hardware meetups and pitch sessions this week.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> And I interview job and intern applicants.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> And knock back anybody with a Ph.D.
>>>>>
>>>>> I get few of those, but it is my policy to not interview or hire PhDs.
>>>>> We fired the last one that we hired.
>>
>> Training in critical thinking does make it difficult to generate
>> uncritical flattery.
> 
> She (it probably was a she) was a horrible circuit designer and
> screamed at people in meetings. I didn't hire them.
> 
>>
>>>>>>> And I see electronic projects in the online mags and on Youtube.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Not particularly high level forums. The IEEE does publish higher-level
>>>>>> stuff, but it does tend to be very specialised.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>> And there's SED of course.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Summary: very few people understand electronics.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> And there different levels of understanding even within that select group.
>>>>>
>>>>> At the Sofar Ocean meetup, there were three major pitches and about 15
>>>>> short ones, including me. One pattern that I see is that few startups
>>>>> know much about electronics and some openly beg for help.
>>>>>
>>>>> You could go to meetups and meet people who need help. It's
>>>>> interesting.
>>>>
>>>> I could if there were any around Sydney. Since I'm active in the NSW
>>>> IEEE committee, I'd expect to hear about them, and get to put reports
>>> >from such meeting in the quarterly newsletter (which I edit) if they 
>>>> existed. They don't seem to.
>>>
>>> I did a quick google search and found lots of maker spaces around
>>> Sydney.
>>
>> We've been through this. They seem to cater for hobbyists, rather than
>> people trying to commercialise technically interesting ideas.
> 
> You'll never know. You don't want to know.

Not a prediction that you are in any position to make. I'd quite like to 
learn if there was anything like that going on locally, but I've been 
hanging around IEEE stuff here since about 2012, and have never got a 
whiff of anything like that,

>>>> Sofar looks real. They dump thousands of disposable floating buoys in
>>>>> the oceans and advise ships on the best courses to save time or fuel.
>>>>> They have a gorgeous facility in a pier with a beautiful frontage on
>>>>> the Bay.
>>>>
>>>> Sounds like a half-baked version of the Argo float project, which has
>>>> been  running for years (since 1999). One of my neighbours launches one
>>> >from time to time as part of his job.
>>>
>>>> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argo_(oceanography)
>>>
>>> They apparently have customers.
>>
>> It still looks like a rip-off. We've known about surface currents since
>> we've had boats. They move around a bit in an unpredictable way.
> 
> That's their point. The Sofar bouys report currents and winds and sea
> states to finer resolution than satellites or whatever. They can tell
> a ship, in real time, that if they alter their course a few degrees
> now, they will save 20 tons of fuel.

If they do it in the next week. As I put it below, it's looking at 
weather rather than climate.

> At the startup meets, most of the projects are obviously silly. A few
> aren't. But everyone wants help with electronics. It's kind of fun.
>
>> The Argo floats are designed to collect information on the deep return
>> currents which are otherwise invisible. That program has been running
>> for about twenty years so far, so we ought to know at least something
>> about the return currents. In effect the Sofar floats sample the surface
>> currents in detail - weather rather than climate - and offers short term
>> forecasts, which may be useful in the short term but don't help you
>> understand the system as a whole.
>>
>>>>> The other thing I've noticed is that Raspberry Pi is not for kids any
>>>>> more. Sofar uses my fave cpu, the RP2040.
>>>>
>>>> Whatever float your buoy.
>>>
>>> Humour. Good.
>>
>> If you can't inform us you can amuse us.

-- 
Bill Sloman, Sydney

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about electronics john larkin <jl@glen--canyon.com> - 2026-04-24 08:55 -0700
  Re: about electronics Bill Sloman <bill.sloman@ieee.org> - 2026-04-25 02:14 +1000
    Re: about electronics john larkin <jl@glen--canyon.com> - 2026-04-24 09:39 -0700
      Re: about electronics Bill Sloman <bill.sloman@ieee.org> - 2026-04-25 03:32 +1000
        Re: about electronics john larkin <jl@glen--canyon.com> - 2026-04-24 10:46 -0700
          Re: about electronics Bill Sloman <bill.sloman@ieee.org> - 2026-04-25 14:44 +1000
            Re: about electronics john larkin <jl@glen--canyon.com> - 2026-04-25 08:03 -0700
              Re: about electronics Bill Sloman <bill.sloman@ieee.org> - 2026-04-26 02:28 +1000
                Re: about electronics john larkin <jl@glen--canyon.com> - 2026-04-25 10:56 -0700
                Re: about electronics Bill Sloman <bill.sloman@ieee.org> - 2026-04-26 21:27 +1000
              Re: about electronics Bill Sloman <bill.sloman@ieee.org> - 2026-04-26 21:11 +1000
              Re: about electronics Bill Sloman <bill.sloman@ieee.org> - 2026-04-26 21:16 +1000
              Re: about electronics Bill Sloman <bill.sloman@ieee.org> - 2026-04-26 21:50 +1000
          Re: about electronics Nioclás Pól Caileán de Ghloucester <thanks-to@Taf.com> - 2026-04-25 17:52 +0000
            Re: about electronics john larkin <jl@glen--canyon.com> - 2026-04-25 11:17 -0700
              Re: about electronics Nioclás Pól Caileán de Ghloucester <thanks-to@Taf.com> - 2026-04-26 17:12 +0000
        Re: about electronics someone <2a59d59e3809f827ce709d3815e3950eef4a6a93af5557a93a7fdfba71460843@example.com> - 2026-04-26 05:45 +0000
          Re: about electronics john larkin <jl@glen--canyon.com> - 2026-04-26 03:29 -0700
          Re: about electronics Bill Sloman <bill.sloman@ieee.org> - 2026-04-26 20:55 +1000
            Re: about electronics Someone <864c855e3d64399dc06fa30ebb75526c2c2e73db7216b16a3d4cf03e8a52ec3b@example.com> - 2026-04-28 20:15 +0000
              Re: about electronics Phil Hobbs <pcdhSpamMeSenseless@electrooptical.net> - 2026-04-28 16:39 -0400
                Re: about electronics someone <2a59d59e3809f827ce709d3815e3950eef4a6a93af5557a93a7fdfba71460843@example.com> - 2026-04-30 05:30 +0000
                Re: about electronics Phil Hobbs <pcdhSpamMeSenseless@electrooptical.net> - 2026-04-30 11:19 +0000
                Re: about electronics someone <2a59d59e3809f827ce709d3815e3950eef4a6a93af5557a93a7fdfba71460843@example.com> - 2026-05-05 18:15 +0000
                Re: about electronics Phil Hobbs <pcdhSpamMeSenseless@electrooptical.net> - 2026-05-05 19:10 +0000
          Re: about electronics Phil Hobbs <pcdhSpamMeSenseless@electrooptical.net> - 2026-04-26 12:53 +0000
          Re: about electronics john larkin <jl@glen--canyon.com> - 2026-04-26 07:57 -0700
            Re: about electronics Bill Sloman <bill.sloman@ieee.org> - 2026-04-27 01:33 +1000
      Re: about electronics Someone <864c855e3d64399dc06fa30ebb75526c2c2e73db7216b16a3d4cf03e8a52ec3b@example.com> - 2026-04-28 20:15 +0000
        Re: about electronics Bill Sloman <bill.sloman@ieee.org> - 2026-04-29 14:36 +1000
  Re: about electronics Buzz McCool <buzz_mccool@yahoo.com> - 2026-04-24 10:10 -0700
    Re: about electronics john larkin <jl@glen--canyon.com> - 2026-04-24 10:38 -0700
      Re: about electronics Buzz McCool <buzz_mccool@yahoo.com> - 2026-04-24 11:22 -0700
      Re: about electronics Bill Sloman <bill.sloman@ieee.org> - 2026-04-25 15:07 +1000
        Re: about electronics john larkin <jl@glen--canyon.com> - 2026-04-25 08:14 -0700
          Re: about electronics Bill Sloman <bill.sloman@ieee.org> - 2026-04-26 02:20 +1000
            Re: about electronics john larkin <jl@glen--canyon.com> - 2026-04-25 11:08 -0700
              Re: about electronics Bill Sloman <bill.sloman@ieee.org> - 2026-04-26 21:34 +1000
                Re: about electronics john larkin <jl@glen--canyon.com> - 2026-04-27 13:24 -0700
                Re: about electronics Bill Sloman <bill.sloman@ieee.org> - 2026-04-28 17:44 +1000
                Re: about electronics john larkin <jl@glen--canyon.com> - 2026-04-28 09:22 -0700
                Re: about electronics Bill Sloman <bill.sloman@ieee.org> - 2026-04-29 03:24 +1000
                Re: about electronics john larkin <jl@glen--canyon.com> - 2026-04-28 18:58 -0700
                Re: about electronics Bill Sloman <bill.sloman@ieee.org> - 2026-04-29 14:27 +1000
  Re: about electronics bitrex <user@example.net> - 2026-04-24 23:20 -0400
    Re: about electronics Don Y <blockedofcourse@foo.invalid> - 2026-04-24 21:50 -0700
      Re: about electronics john larkin <jl@glen--canyon.com> - 2026-04-25 08:26 -0700
      Re: about electronics Nioclás Pól Caileán de Ghloucester <thanks-to@Taf.com> - 2026-04-25 17:53 +0000
        Re: about electronics Don Y <blockedofcourse@foo.invalid> - 2026-04-25 11:34 -0700
          Re: about electronics Nioclás Pól Caileán de Ghloucester <thanks-to@Taf.com> - 2026-04-26 16:51 +0000
  Re: about electronics someone <2a59d59e3809f827ce709d3815e3950eef4a6a93af5557a93a7fdfba71460843@example.com> - 2026-04-26 05:45 +0000
    Re: about electronics john larkin <jl@glen--canyon.com> - 2026-04-26 03:39 -0700
      Re: about electronics Buzz McCool <buzz_mccool@yahoo.com> - 2026-04-28 15:38 -0700
        Re: about electronics Don Y <blockedofcourse@foo.invalid> - 2026-04-28 15:57 -0700
          Re: about electronics john larkin <jl@glen--canyon.com> - 2026-04-28 19:07 -0700
          Re: about electronics john larkin <jl@glen--canyon.com> - 2026-04-29 10:39 -0700
            Re: about electronics Bill Sloman <bill.sloman@ieee.org> - 2026-04-30 22:43 +1000
              Re: about electronics john larkin <jl@glen--canyon.com> - 2026-04-30 07:19 -0700
                Re: about electronics Bill Sloman <bill.sloman@ieee.org> - 2026-05-01 00:41 +1000
            Re: about electronics JM <sunaecoNoChoppedPork@gmail.com> - 2026-04-30 15:54 +0100
              Re: about electronics john larkin <jl@glen--canyon.com> - 2026-04-30 09:27 -0700
                Re: about electronics Bill Sloman <bill.sloman@ieee.org> - 2026-05-01 03:26 +1000
                Re: about electronics john larkin <jl@glen--canyon.com> - 2026-04-30 11:38 -0700
                Re: about electronics JM <sunaecoNoChoppedPork@gmail.com> - 2026-04-30 18:45 +0100
                Re: about electronics Don Y <blockedofcourse@foo.invalid> - 2026-04-30 13:00 -0700
                Re: about electronics Nioclás Pól Caileán de Ghloucester <thanks-to@Taf.com> - 2026-05-01 21:24 +0000
                Re: about electronics Bill Sloman <bill.sloman@ieee.org> - 2026-05-02 16:27 +1000
                Re: about electronics john larkin <jl@glen--canyon.com> - 2026-04-30 11:40 -0700
          Re: about electronics Don Y <blockedofcourse@foo.invalid> - 2026-05-03 14:35 -0700
            Re: about electronics john larkin <jl@glen--canyon.com> - 2026-05-03 14:41 -0700
            Re: about electronics joegwinn@comcast.net - 2026-05-03 19:54 -0400
              Re: about electronics Don Y <blockedofcourse@foo.invalid> - 2026-05-03 17:53 -0700
                Re: about electronics joegwinn@comcast.net - 2026-05-04 19:54 -0400
                Re: about electronics Don Y <blockedofcourse@foo.invalid> - 2026-05-04 17:33 -0700
                Re: about electronics joegwinn@comcast.net - 2026-05-05 13:35 -0400
                Re: about electronics Don Y <blockedofcourse@foo.invalid> - 2026-05-05 14:08 -0700
                Re: about electronics Nioclás Pól Caileán de Ghloucester <thanks-to@Taf.com> - 2026-05-05 21:29 +0000
                Re: about electronics Don Y <blockedofcourse@foo.invalid> - 2026-05-05 14:43 -0700
                Re: about electronics Bill Sloman <bill.sloman@ieee.org> - 2026-05-06 15:58 +1000

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